Surfacing From The Detroit Auto Show

The Michelin Media Centre at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

I’m only now coming up for air from the press preview of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which started for most of us at 9 a.m. Sunday.

It’s always great fun. But very little of the job involves strolling around the glitzy displays, leisurely kicking tires and adjusting the seats in fantastic cars you can’t afford (next picture, below).

The show floor at the Detroit auto show: it’s rarely this empty and peaceful

Much of the 40-hour blitz consists of toiling at the laptop in the huge boiler room operation pictured above (it takes Michelin, the sponsor, three weeks to wire the whole setup for the media, I learned today) or interviewing executives in hot little windowless cubicals under the stands of their displays.

And we rush from overcrowded press conference to the other, fighting other sweaty, cranky and slightly panicked journalists for space and a camera shot (below).

The jackals gather, awaiting fresh prey to feed on

On Monday, my interview list included GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, Executive VP of Manufacturing Frank Ewasyshyn, and GM VP of research and development, Dr. Larry Burns. Those were just the official, chaperoned sit-downs, not including a number of drive-by interviews with chance encounters.

It’s been three 15-hour days in a row, and I’m just starting to recover. Taking a blogging break in a downtown coffee shop.

I was so tired and blurry-eyed last night that as I wrote my third story of the day — Ford of Canada appointed a new president — I misread his name as “Eagle,” which I thought at the time was an interesting name for an American. But his name is Engle. Barry Engle, as some helpful hate mail immediately pointed out. The error has been a blight on what had been a good day.

Well, my bifocals are now six years old. Guess I can’t put off an eye test any longer. But the agony of adjusting to the first ones is still fresh in my mind.

Up at 6 again today to make a Toyota launch presentation today in Windsor — the same one my colleague Craig Pearson wrote about in today’s Windsor Star. We were given the product rundown for the new Corolla at the University of Windsor’s automotive engineering school, and the Matrix later at the Art Gallery of Windsor, with a test drive down to Amherstburg in the morning.

Toyota Corollas lined for a media Ride ‘N Drive at the University of Windsor’s automotive engineering school this morning

I gleaned much additional information which will be mined for future stories. In fact, my notebooks and tape machine are jammed with stuff that must be harvested over the coming weeks.

A Toyota engineer gives the media a “walkaround” of the new Corolla in a U of W lab, pointing out each advance or change

So, back to work. Must finish my Ten Bestest lists for Thursday’s Windsor Star: the ten most important vehicles, and the 10 most fun. (I could also have done the “Ten Dumbest Vehicles,” but I doubt my editors would have gone for it. Could be a future blog, though . . . ).

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.